It has been 15 years since the last injury in operations of the Elza Switchyard at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, site management and operations contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) said Tuesday.
The switchyard is a 161,000-volt electrical system that provides 100 percent of the electricity for the National Nuclear Security Administration nuclear weapons site. In a press release, CNS noted that the most recent injury occurred under a prior site operator and older safety programs; personnel have also come and gone. “One remarkable aspect that hasn’t changed — all of the electricians have gone home safe and well every work day,” the release says.
“I think this is an outstanding achievement, especially since they are working in an area daily with high voltages,” Elza Switchyard supervisor Karla Wright said in the release. “These guys take ownership of the system, their actions, and look out for the safety of each other. The approach is: We’re not going to have anybody hurt. Everybody’s going home safe — the way we came in that morning.”
The team, which has varied from seven to 17 members over a period of years, attributed the safety milestone to strong planning and an understanding of the risk inherent in their work.
“They’re just safety oriented. We talk things over,” supervisor Mark Lyons said. “They’re just like a big, happy family.
